Chez Wombat

Ooh I know some of these x Weird to think of Jump In The Pool as not being Friendly Fires' main hit, but that's how it goes! (Had to look it up to remind myself of what their 'hit' was).

22. James Blunt - You're Beautiful #1 for 5 weeks W/E 23rd July-W/E 20th August #4 in EOY Before he became the king of self-deprecation, Blunt had a fairly unique past. Far from starting from nothing or gigging at pubs, Blunt, born into a family with a long history of military service, served as a captain of the British Army. His most notable involvement being in the Russian occupation of Pristina Airport in the aftermath of the Kosovo War in 1999 which had it gone differently, could well have started World War III. The Russian Army had occupied the airport ahead of a planned NATO deployment, after some delay, NATO commander at the time, Wesley Clark ordered British troops to block the airport and attack. Allegedly being questioned by Blunt, his commander, Mike Jackson refused the order. The situation was eventually resolved peacefully before escalation. It’s not known exactly how much Blunt was involved in the decision, although he has said he would’ve also refused had Jackson obeyed (credit to CocoMango at RateYourMusic as well as wiki for that factoid x). Probably yearning for something a bit more peaceful, Blunt left the army in 2002 after six years serving in the force to focus on his music career. While he was posted in Kosovo, he took his guitar to hang on the tanks and would write many songs as well as perform for the troops. He was signed by EMI and gradually, adopting that acoustic David Gray/Damien Rice-esque sound that was (and continues to be I guess) quite in vogue, You’re Beautiful was eaten up by commercial radio and stayed at number 1 for five weeks all throughout the summer and enchanting (I guess?) and repulsing everyone in the process. It got to number 1 in nine countries, including the United States, a rarity for that genre. He would never have a hit of this magnitude again but had a fairly solid career over the next decade and is still releasing albums as of 2023, as well as spending his time in Ibiza and the Swiss Alps, nice x Blunt knows exactly how people feel about this song and pretty much shares the feeling and is very open to mocking himself on Twitter (but I’m sure he appreciates it ensuring his bills are paid for his life x). He has always been surprised by the song’s success and features in weddings and easy listening as it probably wasn’t written with that in mind. Allegedly about an ex, the song is certainly deceptive in its appearance, sounding like the most MOR thing to have ever MOR’d, it’s actually a rather creepy story of an unreliable narrator seemingly unable to live with himself after seeing his previous lover with someone else, ‘’I’ve got a plan’ and 'I'll never be with you' are sung charmingly but read very differently when taken in context of someone totally hopeless, and especially when taken in tandem with the calm yet sinister video which culminates with Blunt jumping off a cliff in the snowy mountains. There are a few other quirks to the song – the false start which was a genuine mistake and left in the final track and the rather stunningly out of the blue swearing on the line ‘She could see from my face I was f***ing high’ (changed to ‘Flying high’ for the radio edit), I was shocked when I first heard this but does make sense and add to the creepy feel of the whole song. Overall, certainly a song I can appreciate more now it’s not omnipresent and I liked it a lot more than I did at the time, but I still can’t call it good. It's clever lyrically but also smarmy, and taken just musically, the chorus is supremely irritating and it’s just dull acoustic radio fodder and while Blunt certainly wasn’t the first to try this, the British public’s love of these emotional male singer-songwriter acoustic songs would only continue over the next decade and I just find this type of sappy, unadventurous music so difficult to enjoy. I enjoyed a few more of his songs more, justice for Carry You Home and Stay the Night x

Indeed, the reason I decided not to do an extra rank of the number 2s of this year is that so many of them were Elvis reissues I barely remembered 😅I wouldn't say anything truly worthy missed number 1, however cynical an exercise it was, I'd have been wary to see the sales if they didn't. Anyway, here's a non-Elvis track...

30; Lankum - Go Dig My Grave 29; Mitski - My Love Mine All Mine 28; Nabihah Iqbal - This World Couldn't See Us 27; Billie Eilish - What Was I Made For? 26; Daughter - Be On Your Way 25; Fat Dog - King of the Slugs 24; Romy - Loveher 23; Lana Del Rey - A&W 22; Peggy Gou - (It Goes Like) Nanana 21; Olivia Rodrigo - Vampire 20; Heartworms - Retributions of an Awful Life 19; Olivia Rodrigo - Bad Idea Right? 18; Last Dinner Party - Nothing Matters 17; Nothing But Thieves - Welcome to the DCC 16; Dua Lipa - Dance The Night 15; Olivia Rodrigo - Get Him Back! 14; Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding - Miracle 13; Doja Cat - Paint The Town Red 12; Beatles - Now And Then 11; Adrianne Lenker - Ruined 10; Chappell Roan - Hot To Go! 09; Kenya Grace - Strangers 08; Beyoncé (feat. Kendrick Lamar) - America Has A Problem 07; PinkPantheress - Boy's a Liar 06; Fifty Fifty - Cupid 05; George Clanton - I Been Young 04; Kylie Minogue - Padam Padam 03; Alessandra - Queen of Kings 02; Snow Strippers - Under Your Spell 01; Zach Bryan & Kacey Musgraves - I Remember Everything

The Human League - Love Action (I Believe In Love) Siouxsie And The Banshees - Arabian Knights U2 - Fire Soft Cell - Tainted Love Ultravox - The Thin Wall Rolling Stones and OMD just outside. Mainly songs I didn't know today so most of these are discoveries (or just did enough to stand out amongst the many naff medleys x)

Yeah I know I'm being a bit cheap here, but I am sticking to my self-imposed rule with recycles that it does sound significantly different from their last entry 😎I will say the vocals on the chorus are a little quiet so you may need to turn your headphones up when you listen x Sending some hype to Deandria from the other semi, I've heard that on 6Music and have actually considered sending it somewhere here, it's a really quirky, mysterious song, hope it can get through without my help x

(The next Elvis posts won't be as long as that, just wanted to set the context and give my thoughts on the exercise as a whole x)

23. Elvis Presley - It's Now or Never #1 for 1 week W/E 5th February #152 in EOY (if anyone knows where this or any of the Elvis reissues are in the EOY for the year, I'd be grateful x) So the Elvis reissues were always going to be difficult to rank when I picked this year, there were many angles I could go down - I could not include them at all as they weren't 2005 songs, I could rank them all at the bottom and play the 'Elvis is overrated angle' or I could just put them all in one place in the middle, however they were number 1 hits just as much as other songs here and as I'll cover below, it's not like the circumstances of them being there are particularly unique looking at recent chart history. And while I wouldn't call myself a superfan (the songs in his post-military career were pretty bad and a lot of what he was delivering was certainly not entirely original and more palatable for the audience coming from a white man) he was an icon for a reason as his voice, music and performing ability has been near unmatched in decades since and I genuinely really enjoy a few of his songs, so I will give them an honest assessment alongside the number 1 hits this year. I'm not going to go into the background of Elvis himself as you've got many literature and films that go into that, but it is worth discussing in this post his presence in 2005. 2005 would've been Elvis' 70th birthday and EMI marked the occasion by re-releasing all 18 of his number 1 singles, while this wasn't the first time this happened, the Beatles' label did a similar exercise in the 80s, the scale and publicity for this campaign was far wider than anything that had been before. It wasn't lost to the estate that the 1000th number 1 was coming up and this specifically tied in with that, and they achieved it, as well as the 999th and 1002nd (which this one was), in the process, it also got his total number 1 figure up to 21, a good few singles clear of nearest competitors, the Beatles (even though not counting repeats, kinda as it should be, they would now be tied). The sales were very low and at a time when physical sales were really drying up, and it certainly reads more than a little cynical so I can certainly see why some view this as quite a nadir for the singles chart. From an outsiders perspective to the conversation at the time, I certainly think it reads like a shameless corporate exercise devaluing the music and his legend, but I do also see it as an interesting gateway between the physical and digital eras. While it would be another 12 months before the musical new age would begin and downloads would start their take over, older songs getting to number 1 is something that would become a feature of the digital era in various ways that still persist and labels have learned how to exploit this, just in a different way to how it was done before, and while I do prefer newer music getting the spotlight, events like this are always unique quirks of the chart which are interesting to view if nothing more. There's much more that can be said for this, so I will just link to this very thorough 3 part series on the Popular blog to commemorate the 1000th number 1: https://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2023/11/no-bird-can-fly-no-fish-can-swim-until-the-king-is-born Anyway, the song itself is one of Elvis' biggest hits and one of the world's best selling singles at 20 million copies. It is based on the 1916 composition O Sole Mio, Elvis first heard another song that used this melody - Tony Martin's There's No Tomorrow while on military service and was inspired by this to do his own version. He pitched the idea to his publisher who had songwriters write it in less than half than hour, in the UK, there was a copyright issue which meant it was delayed a few months but anticipation was so high that it managed a rare-at-the-time number 1 debut and stayed there for eight weeks in October 1960, and added to that tally 45 years later. Of course if you're in the UK, you'll more likely know it as 'Just One Cornetto' as many years of advertising has wormed that into my brain so that I can't really think of much else when I hear this, and that's ultimately why I've ranked this one the lowest as any intended effect it may have is dwindled so that the only feeling I get from this is wanting an ice cream. But even outside of that. it's your standard 50s/early 60s crooning number which just doesn't appeal to me much, however much I can appreciate the instrumental, his vocal talent and the backing singers. It's not as bad as some of his movie releases, but it's not a highlight in his back catalogue,

Got to love the Teletubbies, I was 5 at the time so around about the right age, although I kinda wish I could've experienced it at university age as it would've been a whole different experience x

I've never listened to an Lily Allen album, she's pretty much an artist I'd written off as past her peak but I certainly couldn't ignore the buzz here so took a listen - it really hooked me in right from that bait and switch in the title track, really great storytelling and her lyricism is frank and brutal as it's ever been. I agree with the Lemonade comparison, but I think this is a bit harsher and angrier, not really trying to see it from both sides (and so she shouldn't, from what I gather x). I also really like the genre diversity and the progression from harsher genres like D'n'B and 2Step (Ruminating and Relapse are both big highlights) to more quiter moments as she starts to go deeper into her thoughts. I think my only criticism would be it's a little too long for what it is and the later songs don't hit as hard, although I do like that callback to It's Not Me, It's You at the end. That Stranger Things 5 trailer dropped at an opportune time didn't it? 😉

I think the traitors really messed up not murdering Nick instead of Lucy when they had the chance, that would've made it more difficult for Joe to trust other people. I think it's likely to be a faithful win unless they can really convince David. I don't know how they haven't got Alan yet, that's twice he's messed up around them!

24. Shayne Ward - That's My Goal #1 for 4 weeks W/E 31st December 2005 - 21st January 2006 #2 in EOY The second series of the X Factor was where the juggernaut began to form, the ratings rose, the drama continued and the show was starting to feel like must-watch television, while I wasn't quite there yet until next year, I definitely remember the contestants making their mark. While it was still tame compared to how it would turn out, Cowell was clearly seeing what was working. There was drama related to judge's choice of act progressing when Maria Lawson was eliminated in favour of the Conway Sisters, a result that not only was controversial in terms of singing ability between the two, but also an act that happened to be Irish and that judge Louis Walsh happened to save, the headlines wrote themselves. Lawson would be a rare case of an act eliminated early to get a blink and you miss it record deal and a chart hit (and still a favourite of my mum's x), so to did runner-up Andy Abraham, third placed group Journey South and arguably X Factor's first 'novelty' act, Chico Slimani, I'll let my successor tell you about him x There was no arguing with the winner though, Shayne Ward was bookies and audience favourite from the first live shows and though he only narrowly beat Andy Abraham in the final, this was clearly more in line with someone Cowell could work with - a young, attractive singer with wide appeal that could potentially go past the 'pub singer does an album of covers' model and engage with the younger audiences and adapt to the changing times where 'adult contemporary' acts were losing relevance in the digital age. Additionally, his age meant a lack of experience that would make challenging his output less likely. And tbf, Shayne certainly did better than Steve, if minimally so compared to later acts, tapping into that R&B/soul sound to get a few hits, but he never achieved another number 1. He managed two album cycles, but by the time of his third, he couldn't quite keep up with the many other fresh-faced stars that Cowell had to focus on, limping back with a Nickelback cover of all things and his album missing the top 10. He was dropped in 2011 and moved to acting in Coronation Street from 2015 until 2018, he still has a few recent roles according to wiki so seems to have done alright for himself considering x That's My Goal was a rarity in X Factor winners as it was an original song, something that wouldn't happen again until 2016 with Matt Terry's When Christmas Comes Around (lol), but it certainly turned out to be quite a success, despite not being released until Wednesday, it sold over 450,000 copies to easily achieve the conveted Christmas number 1 (something that the show would rent out for a while now), selling enough in the year to be as high as second place in the EOY, only behind Amarillo. It remains the third highest selling winners single of all time and fastest selling. I do think this song certainly has its merits and is probably above average for an X Factor's winners single, and you can see how it established so many after it - he sings it well, it's fairly decently paced and has suitably gradiose production and the 'Shayne!' moment with the key change and choir sets a precedent for many winners singles to come and I ironically enjoyed it every time, it's a world away from Against All Odds for sure, there's only so much praise you can put on these calculated, formulaic winners singles though, it's still got trite lyrics, a predictable, boring structure and a lack of any sort of distinction, emotion or substance that can allow you to see through the pound signs, this clearly was all they had to give as an original song and they went back to covers after this where the formula would get worse and worse. It's not particualrly unlikeable as a song, but what it inspired makes it so.

Tom Ewing from Popular who's reviewing all the UK number 1s (slowly x) did a great piece on Candle in the Wind 1997 and Diana's legacy so to speak: https://popular-number1s.com/2014/03/27/elton-john-candle-in-the-wind-97-something-about-the-way-you-look-tonight/#debug5 The whole hysteria has never quite sat right with me, but song-wise, it's always been boring, though I don't doubt the authenticity of how he was feeling when he sung it. I actually didn't mind the R Kelly and P Diddy songs, but have no desire to revisit them.

25. Westlife - You Raise Me Up #1 for 2 weeks, W/E 5th November-W/E 12th November #9 in EOY Westlife as was then tradition picked a song that had already been covered many times or the history behind it. Originally by Norwegian-Irish string band Secret Garden with additional vocals from Brian Kennedy based on an instrumental string piece called Silent Story composed in 2001, the original singer was due to be Johnny Logan, but they wanted it to be distanced from Eurovision and they wished for a serious song given it was played at the composer's mother's funeral. It was included on their 2002 album and though it did sell well in their native countries, the song was not initially a big hit anywhere else, missing the top 100 in the UK. It picked up the attention of many adult contemporatry names, most notably Josh Groban whose version was popular in the US, but didn't make a lot of waves over here until Westlife's version. Westlife first performed this with Secret Garden at the Nobel Peace Prize concert, they didn't initially want to release it, saying it was a church song and wouldn't be successful, that proved to be quite the opposite and it was their biggest hit in years, though they were generally on the decline and this would be their penultimate number 1, it was enough to show we (somehow) hadn't quite tired of them yet. There was also a recent plagiarism lawsuit filed for this song by Icelandic composer, Jóhann Helgason who claimed that the song infringed copyright of his work Söknuður (Into The Light) by Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson, stating the composer, Rolf Løvland would've heard it while he lived in Iceland. It never went anywhere as the US court ruled in his favour stating that the two are similar enough, but not enough that it was literally Helgason's work. Listening to it now, hmmm there's something there definitely, judge for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq9tphh6Apw Anyway, I'm talking about that as it's probably more interesting than this version...honestly, I don't rank this as one of Westlife's worst, I feel it does at least suit them well (in that, it's nothing special in the first place) and a decent one to ironically tick off the Westlife checklist like the 'up from stools' moment and the faux-sombreness of the lads in the video (now sans Brian McFadden ofc.) is at least amusing, there's a nice string section as a callback to the original, but Westlife's best is not saying a lot and for all the drama and emotion it goes for, it's very empty and bereft of substance. I took a listen to the Groban cover (that's a lot of You Raise Me Ups to listen to, I hope you appreciate my sacrifice x) and it is stunning how they literally do beat for beat what he does with it barely changing a thing, it's note for note the same with the added caveats of less powerful vocals, just like they would do with Daughtry a few years later. It really highlights how utterly lacking in creativity and soul they are and even if this one of their better ones, I can't rank it much higher.

I have a self imposed rule that I don't recycle unless I feel it sounds very different from the original entry (may or may not be the case this month x), or alternatively I had no idea it was recycled in the first place which is more common looking at this list (even if I was in that contest ) I've highlighted where I was in the contest at the time of the original artist being sent. Aeroche (Sidewalks and Skeletons) Armenijain (Bastille) Caerfyrrdia (I Am a Camera) Chestoria (Lava La Rue, this one really got me!) Danaeviia (Aly & Fila) Espen (Flight Facilities) FARC (REIN) Ingermanlandia (Woodkid) Lotunia (Anna Von Hausswolff) Persephonia (The Bullitts, Kids of the Apocalypse, WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA) Ojnoj (Desire) Quotosibb (Kaskade) Republic of Adonia (JUTRØ) Rivandia (M83) Rolloland (Steven Wilson) Seyetana (Saint Saviour) Skall (Slowdive) Tinnmark (Highasakite) Trifoski (Soap&Skin, Amnesia Scanner, La Femme, Kite) Utopia (LCD Soundsystem) Trifoski and Persephonia the only two more than once, guess that makes sense x I have self-recycled We Are All Astronauts, Varien and films from myself (and I guess Thomas Bergersen given he is essentially Two Steps From Hell for my 100th), mainly for improving on their placement or introducing them to a new audience after some time, have had mixed success x Recycled from me: Aeroche (A.G. Cook) Beaverdonia (Fickle Friends) Cor Lupus (U.S. Girls) Cumulonimbia (Nakhane) Danaeviia (Two Steps From Hell) D'yermak'er (Slow Magic) FSR Rontvia (WALK THE MOON) Flynnonda (Fickle Friends) Greenfroze (Illenium) Kluminican Republic (Two Steps From Hell, Chloe Caillet) Kylienips (Starsmith, Keep Shelly in Athens) Lotunia (Crywolf) Nelionoir (Night Tapes) Niceland (MOWE) Ojnoj (Illenium) Quintessa (Crywolf) Scherzland (Milk & Bone) Summericia (David Holmes/Raven Violet) Tartford (U.S. Girls) Utopia (A.G. Cook (as remixer), Dead Pony) Kylienips, Klum Rep and Utopia my biggest thieves (I've returned the favour on one occasion x)

I've been debating between my choices but think I'm set on one now, one suitable for the time of year and I'm hoping that the host will appreciate the artist + reference in the title x It's perhaps a little cheap, sorry about that, but I don't think it's a pisstake and I don't think several others would be after it I had never heard of Sarah Kinsley let alone this song, it sounds alright but doesn't really deliver on that build-up. Would've been an easy 'don't get the hype' snub

30; Metric - Doomscroller 29; Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Spitting off the Edge of the World 28; Caroline Polachek - Welcome to My Island 27; Eliza Rose & Interplanetary Criminal - B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All) 26; Caroline Polachek - Billions 25; Gorillaz (feat. Tame Impala & Bootie Brown) - New Gold 24; Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Wolf 23; HAAi (feat. Jon Hopkins) - Baby, We're Ascending 22; Black Country, New Road - The Place Where He Inserted The Blade 21; My Chemical Romance - The Foundations of Decay 20; Jessie Ware - Free Yourself 19; yune pinku - Fai Fighter 18; Arctic Monkeys - There'd Better Be a Mirrorball 17; Working Men's Club - Widow 16; Wednesday - Bull Believer 15; Jockstrap - Concrete Over Water 14; Harry Styles - As It Was 13; Let's Eat Grandma - Happy New Year 12; Beyoncé - Break My Soul 11; Big Thief - Simulation Swarm 10; Ethel Cain - American Teenager 09; Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero 08; Tove Lo - No One Dies From Love 07; black midi - Welcome To Hell 06; Ibibio Sound Machine - Protection From Evil 05; LF System - Afraid To Feel 04; Wet Leg - Ur Mum 03; Steve Lacy - Bad Habit 02; RAYE (feat. 070 Shake) - Escapism. 01; Encanto Cast - The Family Madrigal

Great quiz idea, the more modern chart weeks, album chart and Apple Music ones were mainly guesses, but I'm pleased to that I got above 60 in most of them and managed 100 for the number 2s one. I think it was just Cliff I was unsure about for the overall number 1s, I have the top 2 memorised but not beyond that x

Red Sovine - Teddy Bear The Specials - Ghost Town Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood Kate Bush - Sat In Your Lap Kraftwerk - The Model Kraftwerk - Computer Love No room for Depeche Mode, ABBA and Bruce Springsteen sadly Edit: Edited as didn't realise I had to split Kraftwerk, sorry Spandau x

#SaveOurVelocity The Script to go, though this is a great top 5.

What a round table that was, and a really good task choice too. That sort of outside the box logic from Stephen about the Traitors getting less sleep is what I've been missing from him, shame it happened just before he went, but he lasted longer than I thought given how clear a target he would be from either team. Big slip up from Alan there, I think that's probably cost him. Cat will probably have to turn on Jonathan soon and there's suspicion on her, so despite how thick this lot are, the traitors could still fail quite spectacularly.

Great stuff, your top 2 would be the same as mine for this year, both all time favourites and they make a good case for the two good sides of Noel Gallagher, a psychedelic trip and a classic rock anthem x Both Prodigy ones were fantastic too, I'd have the Spice Girls songs in reverse order but all were very strong singles, tough to understate how much they changed the game.

26. Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas? #1 for 1 week W/E 1st January 2005 I guess to be consistent, I'll continue ranking the runover from last year, just about by the skin of it's teeth in this case as it managed to sneak a week as the year turned, although it was still one of the highest sales weeks recorded in the year before they collapsed for months. I'm not gonna give it too much commentary as John's thoughts in the previous year pretty much echoed mine. I did like this at the time, it was quite cool to see so many modern artists coming together tackling an old song and I do think make a good effort to update the sound to reflect the music landscape like the original did, but time and me being a little more cynical of white saviour outings like this has somewhat dampened my enthusiasm for it, as well as being quite a hollow tradition musically when really the story of the original is the only one that really resonates and was a lightning in a bottle moment that has now rightfully become a classic, it changes too much by going several places at once and changing the tempo that makes the final singalong not hit as hard. I'd still rank it (distant) second behind the original though, as it's not the most pointless (that would be 2 and 30) and as of last year, not the biggest messy racket either (that would be Band Aid 40)

27. Pussycat Dolls - Stickwitu #1 for 2 weeks, W/E 10th December-17th December #28 in EOY The second single by Burlesque dancers turned kind-of group kind-of lead and many backing singers took the tone down following their attention-grabbing debut to a more slower balladic song suitable for winter, which had now become almost a requirement for all boy and girl groups. It turned out to be another successful outing for them following their monster debut, becoming their second number 1 here and another top 5 in the US. They had several more hits over the latter half of the 2000s, but this would be their last spell at the top of the charts here, following disbandment in 2010 and the inevitable solo career and other ventures for lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger, there wasn't many other places for the group to go and with a planned reunion tour cancelled due to COVID and pretty minimal interest from anyone else involved, it's probably safe to say they're done for now, I'm still not 100% sure I can name another member with Googling. I've certainly had better Birthday number 1s. One thing I've noticed when ranking is a lot of these number 1s fall under the same bracket and thus I rank them fairly near each other, in this case, it crosses over with my thoughts on Over and Over, an unremarkable slow jam that meanders along and I have absolutely no reason to return to, and even less looking at that godwaful eyesore of a title. I think PCDs at their best, though never sounding like a group in the slightest and pure marketing in conception, had an ample bit of attitude and personality accompanied with slick production, they were distinctive whatever you thought of them, this has absolutely none of that distinction, just pure schmaltz with cheesy, generic lyrics and a bland chorus, almost robotic in it's lack of personality. I didn't hate it at time and I will grant that it's a good showcase for Nicole's vocals which Don't Cha couldn't emphasise as well and the production is fairly decent as you could expect, but it never lifts the song above mediocre. Apparently the wiki page lists that this was meant to make the members more identifiable...how successful it was I think is a good demonstration of how the band could never work long term.

Congrats Dobbo! Just realised both of the top 2 were next to each other in my votes so I could've changed that outcome on a different day! Good to have an inspired winner though and a unique nationality at that, most of the top 10 looks really good and most of my votes finished in the top half. A fun edition overall, thanks for hosting Dan, the reveal really created some effective tension